Stop the carp & fish from banging on our houseboat

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Stop the carp & fish from banging on our houseboat

by Rebecca
(Texas)

How to stop the carp & fish from eating the algae off the bottom of our houseboat? The banging drives me crazy!

Thanks, Rebecca.

Reply - Answer
Well Rebecca, I can sympathize with your dilemma since the sound of fish & carp banging or feeding on the algae can definitely drive someone nuts.

One of the best products that I found that helps to eliminate the problem is to apply a special anti fouling bottom paint to the hull. This bottom paint with Irgarol is especially good on the algae and bottom growth, which will really help to provide much less of a feeding area for the fish or carp.

If you have a sense of humor, I can recommend having a party with many friends, and bring out the fishing rods, and have a "fish BBQ" :)

Joking aside, I know what's it's like to have them banging on your hull, and I found that this bottom paint really helped to let me have a great night's sleep.

Lastly, hopefully some of our readers will share and post comments about their fish & carp feeding on their houseboat hull experiences.

IAN - from www.all-about-houseboats.com

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Stop the carp & fish from banging on our houseboat

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Houseboat Noises - finally found the answer!
by: Anonymous

I have been going absolutely mad from the knocking on the boat and the lack of sleep doesn't help my state of mind either. I've been in the same marina for a very long time and never had the problem.

Two months ago I moved just across the river and every now and then I would hear the tapping. It suddenly got very bad where it's nearly constant 24 hours a day.

All weekend I've been crawling around with my ear to the floor, looking in compartments, flushing my bilge, re-tying my lines, etc. I haven't slept in three days from the noise and my obsession to figure out what it is!

I repaint the bottom every spring but I suppose I'll need to be more choosy with it. Maybe now that I know WHAT the sound is it won't bother me so much. My last resort was googling the problem and there it was! Good to know I'm not crazy.

Reply - Answer
Your comments made me laugh, as NO you are not crazy. I know of a chap that had the same problem with ducks going around "pecking" at the algae around the houseboats waterline.

IAN from www.all-about-houseboats.com

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Houseboat Tips to Stop the CARP
by: Tony

I have tried bleach - 5-10 min results (probably not a very green solution)

Underwater fireworks -10-20 min results (dock neighbors don't appreciate)

Fishing - they are tough to catch

Bottom-job: lasts for about 6-12 months. But I only pull the boat every 3 years.

Bow-fishing - very gratifying at 1am with that pecking ringing in your ear. You have 1-2 seconds to shoot once the light is on them.

Our next move is to try underwater lights. These carp hate light. One boat near the shore tested this and it worked for them.

If a unique solution is found, someone could get rich. I hate these fish.

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Spear 'em.
by: Anonymous

I have tried several ideas, some a little crazy to include dropping waterproof M80's into the water like depth charges. It would scare them, but only for about 10 minutes.

So far, my best solution was to rig up my grab pole with a ice pick on one end and use it like a spear. The carp are pretty stupid, so they don't run at the sight of a person, they just keep lugging along the hull. When they come up from the side's, I get them. This usually cures the problem for several hours.

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Great tips for this.
by: Capt. Ray

I started a thread on another forum about this topic several years ago. It ran for many months and got many serious and some very funny replies.

The best results are either bottom painting, or other ways to keep the algae down.

The other thing that is very important is to not dump your waste directly into the water without treatment. The use of a MSD type 1,2 or 3 will greatly help.

The carp are bottom feeders who love to eat the waste.

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Stop the carp & fish from banging on our houseboat

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Stop the carp & fish from banging on our houseboat